Letter: British shame

HOW MUCH I agree with most of Neal Ascherson's article ('Leaders who shame us all', 17 October). But how I wished I shared his optimism that our rotten ship of state, his 'ship of fools', is sailing off into the darkness with only the xenophobes on board. I fear that we are all aboard, all destined to be destroyed by the viruses of Little Englandism, Tebbitomania and Lilleyitis.

I am ashamed, deeply ashamed, to be British today. I am as ashamed of our Government as I am of the football hooligans and lager louts, ashamed that these unpleasant species sully our nationhood with their revolting, atavistic posturing.

What is worse? The 'insincerity' of ministers like Michael Howard in promoting policies in which Neal Ascherson tells us they do not believe but which please the Tory herd, or the honesty of other Conservative politicians who do believe the poisonous dogma and prejudice they preach?

How is this to change? Where is the political opposition capable of promoting a decent society, capable of inspiring us to accept, for example, painful increases in taxation - not just to eliminate a paper monetary deficit but to invest in a better future and in the creation of national assets for a better Britain that is truly at the heart of a greater European ideal?

It is not yet too late, says Neal Ascherson. I fervently hope that he is right.

John Payne

Broadstairs, Kent